The research also urged Beijing to do more to support restructuring for those who need it.

In total, 68 such countries will pay $52.8 billion this year in debt costs, according to a report by the Green Finance & Development Centre at Fudan University in Shanghai as quoted by South China Morning Post.

More than a quarter of that will go to China, the report estimates, as Beijing is one of the largest lenders to developing nations, the newspaper reported.

At the end of 2020, the 68 nations collectively owed about $110 billion to various Chinese lenders in official bilateral debt, the report estimates, up from $105 billion in 2019. China was the largest single creditor after the World Bank’s International Development Association, the report says as quoted by South China Morning Post.